Algae Scrubbers

A solution to climate change is algae. We can create a homemade algae scrubber to reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. Algae scrubbers will work by using a bubbler connected to a bottle with algae, water, and nutrients in it, to provide the carbon dioxide for the algae. Once you are done with the algae, you can either bury it, or put it in your compost pile. This will prevent and reverse the effects of the large amounts of CO2, which includes the global temperature rising a whole degree. Once we use homemade algae scrubbers, the temperature will go back to normal.

Algae Scrubbers

A solution to climate change is algae. We can create a homemade algae scrubber to reduce the amount of CO2 in the air. Algae scrubbers will work by using a bubbler connected to a bottle with algae, water, and nutrients in it, to provide the carbon dioxide for the algae. Once you are done with the algae, you can either bury it, or put it in your compost pile. This will prevent and reverse the effects of the large amounts of CO2, which includes the global temperature rising a whole degree. Once we use homemade algae scrubbers, the temperature will go back to normal.

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Judges’ Queries and Presenter’s Replies

Janet Barclay

Your algae scrubber sounds very easy to implement, which is great! Can you clarify how it is unique from other small-scale algae scrubbers such as the instructables reference from your paper?

Gillian Puttick

Judge

June 8, 2015 | 12:47 p.m.

Nice work building a prototype of this system! Could you make a more specific guesstimate about the possible impact of your plan on CO2 reduction, e.g., how many would be needed to make a measurable impact?

Constance Roco

Judge

June 8, 2015 | 03:10 p.m.

Neat idea and it is really cool you made a prototype. Do you think any type of algae could be used for this? Or are there some algae out there that might be more efficient at converting CO2 & sung light into biomass that could help make this process more efficient?

Where do you foresee people using their algae scrubbers—at home? At work? At school? Which location or combination of locations would have the greatest impact on CO2 reduction/make it more likely that people will actually set up and take care of their algae scrubber system?

Further posting is closed as the competition has ended.

Presentation Discussion

Matthew Feng

What would the cost of implementing this technology be? Will the algae die? The plastics used to host the scrubber also harm the environment – is there an alternative? The scrubber is not exactly attractive – how can we make it more appealing to increase its implementation? This idea seems viable, and could be mass produced.

Divya Gandla

Indeed, this idea is creative and could be easily implemented. Is there a specific species of algae which would make this process more efficient? Is there an approximation as to how much CO2 the algae can sequester? The tubing, bottles, aquarium blubber are not eco-friendly materials. Could you possibly use bioplastics which have been made from natural materials as substitutes? What time-frame do you approximate for the functionality of a single unit of algae scrubbers?

Divya Gandla

You guys did a nice job writing your research, especially for eight graders. One thing I would suggest about your future research papers is to keep it formal. Sometimes it is best to write in third person, especially in scientific pieces. Also, can you think of some constraints regarding your innovation? How do you suppose the function is altered during different times of the day?